October 28, 2005
Firescape – Josh Partington

This interview was done with Sara of Shiny Silver Fords.

C = Cath , S = Sara, J = Josh

C: For the record can you state your name?
J: Josh Partington.

S: What's your inspiration behind Firescape?
J: That's a good question, hold on. That's a ‘sip of the Red Bull’ question. *drinks some of his Red Bull* I think what it was when Something Corporate… The last two albums that we did, we did very much on the heels of each other. Thankfully, with that band, both Andrew and myself are very prolific guys. You know, when someone steps on our foot, we write a song about it. I think for a very short period of time in the beginning of that band, it was a very frustrating thing for both of us. But I think we have come to really see how that is a great thing, because there are just so many good things that come out of it. Nobody is saddled with this entire idea of like, “I have to be the guy that writes the hit”. In that sense, you never have writer’s block when it’s him and I. I think that’s partially because we feel like we’re never pressured to be that guy because the other one is there. I talk with my hands by the way; it doesn’t go on the tape. I think that when we - I am really long winded at explaining things. *laughs* So, when we were talking about doing another album, we kind of said, “Well, maybe now is not a good time”. I’d been writing a lot of really rock stuff at the time, and I was like, “Okay, well this isn’t really Something Corporate stuff”. I have always been that guy in Something Corporate who writes the ‘rock songs’. Not that Andrew or myself never went into each other’s realm, but I think if you were to label us… So, right before we went to Australia with The Offspring, which was a little over a year ago, I said, “Listen, I am going to go and do these songs. I don’t know what is going to happen with it, but we’ll see how it comes out.” I think the entire band was just really, really tired. We’d just toured & toured & toured off of '‘North’, and before that we had no break between ‘North’ and ‘Leaving Through The Window’, so we were just like, “Ok, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be”. I think that if you ask Andrew the same thing, it would be that the real inspiration about it was that him and I both needed a break from playing Something Corporate songs. For him, I think he didn’t necessarily want to write Something Corporate songs for a little bit. I didn’t want to write Something Corporate songs for a little bit, not that we have a problem with it, more just to get our heads out of it, you know? I think that now, when we go back in to do another record, everything is going to benefit from it. It’s a good thing to be stated, it was never like a “Fuck you, I am going to do this on my own”. It was never that. Ever. A little bit of it was like, “I am really frustrated with being here”, not necessarily personally, just because we have spent so much time consecutively together. It was definitely frustration, and I think the best way to let that out was through a different musical outlet. Now, going back into it, I think it did exactly what it needed to do. The Firescape album isn’t going to be like this huge, 20 times platinum album. Though you have dreams like that, I’m kind of okay with that being the way it is, because I am really proud of it. In a way, I’m really happy because I think - I am so long in answering questions *laughs*. But, I’m like really proud of everything that I have done musically in my career, and on different levels. I think that with this under my belt, it shows like, a breath of “wow”... I’m very proud of myself with saying, “Wow, I really went through different genres and different ideas and I think that I did them well”.

C: What do you want to have accomplished by having Firescape?
J: Obviously, those change all the time. But personally, I just want it to be - I think that I’ve already gotten there with it, too. I really just wanted a lot of people to discover it. It’s almost like being the indie hero, you know? You want to be the guy that’s like, “Why was that band never big?”. I’d have no problem with if Firescape ever became that. If the next Something Corporate album does really, really well, and this is the only time that Firescape was really it’s thing, I’d be really fine with that. I think it’s this cool thing that I put a lot of heart into, and I feel like I accomplished everything. Everything on top of this is like gravy. Every person that comes up and says, “Man, I really like this” makes me go “Wow”. Nobody helped me do this, I did this. Well, take that back, scratch that. A lot of people helped me do it, but there was never a major label behind it, there was never a big thing. It was just something that was a real branch out for me, so it’s cool. Every person that finds out about it, I can take full credit for, and that’s awesome.

S: So, I’ve been reading you’re online blog, and on there, it says you’re recording. What should fans expect for the new CD? Like, more of your EP?
J: No, the only songs from the EP are ‘His Midas Touch’ and ‘Postcards’. Those are the only two that are going to come, and if you’ve seen the show live it’s more hard rock. It is a little bit, but it flows, you know? Again, I’m just really proud of it because it’s a really catchy rock CD. I think that people who really like the Foo Fighters would like this CD. Honestly, there was a brief moment where a lot of people were like… There was a thought of it being a major label album and stuff like that. Everybody was like, “Oh, it’s a Foo Fighter’s album and blah blah blah”. So, that’s the thing that I hear the most. I think that it’s very akin to a rock & roll Foo Fighter’s album. A big, catchy chorus but, it’s rock.

C: What’s one artist that you think has made an unforgettable contribution to music?
J: Beck. Easily Beck. He’s probably, arguably, the only artist that was able to really successfully cross genres back and forth. He puts out this somber songwriter CD that is ‘Sea Change’, and he comes back with ‘Guero’, which is almost hip-hop, and he keeps doing that. He did that with ‘Mutation’ and ‘Odelay’ before that, and then… What’s the CD that ‘Sex Laws’ is on? ‘Tropicalia’? No, something like that. I can’t remember. Anyways, it’s like all the CDs, they go back and forth from being like... One is almost a dance CD, and then one is this singer songwriter, deep, moving CD. So, I’d say that Beck easily, especially of recent music, is the best example of anybody who has done that who has contributed to music.

S: So when you meet and fan and they say that you have helped them a lot through your music and basically saved their life and showed them music, what’s your reaction to that?
J: I think that’s awesome, but at the same time, you can’t look into it too much. I think that you take it for what it’s worth, and you feel flattered by it. I think you should always feel good about it, but not too great about it because you don’t want to start thinking that you are the person that saving someone’s life. Because you’re not. As much as people are like, “Oh, your music has really touched me” and stuff like that, I have to believe, just for their sake, that if I didn’t make music, somebody else would have filled that void. I am very thankful that I had a part in it, but you don’t want to have a God complex. You need to take everything a little bit lightly when it comes to that, but it’s awesome when you hear someone say that. That’s a big thing.

C: If you could be anyone dead or alive for a day who would you chose to be?
J: Probably Brad Pitt. Why not, you know? That would be cool. I mean, if it’s only for a day…
C: He’s got Angelina…
J: Well yea, but not because of that. For a day? If it was for a year or a couple years, you’d choose someone who could really change the world. But no one is going to change the world in a day. So it’s like, choose the hot guy who could get any girl he wants. *laughs*

S: What do you think is the main thing wrong with the music scene right now?
J: I don’t think there is anything wrong with the music scene. Kids are listening to music, what’s wrong with that? You could sit and say, “There’s shitty bands on the radio”, but there have always been shitty bands on the radio. Deal with it. I think it’s probably better off now because kids are going to places other than the radio to find music, because they are fed up with it. I would say that now radio has so little to do with music. I don’t ever listen to the radio.
C: If I listen to the radio, I listen to oldies.
J: Yeah, seriously though. I think that is just the way life is. You start getting older and you don’t listen to things you don’t like anymore. You become less hip, unfortunately. But I think that’s the point. Kids are going to the Internet more and more to get music, like Purevolume and Myspace and all that stuff. That’s the new radio. Kids spend more time going on Myspace than they do going on the radio. People used to sit in their room and listen to the radio. Now, they sit on their computer and go on Myspace and message their friends and all that.
S: That’s my life.
J: That’s what you do. Cool, rock on. I think that’s the point, that it’s what you spend your time doing. A lot of people say “No one is making good music anymore. No one is making good music anymore”. That’s old people talk! I can tell you 3 to 4 CDs I have bought in the last year that have changed my life. How can you say that the music scene is fucked? You can’t.

C: On that note, what bands are you currently listening to?
J: I am a huge Death Cab For Cutie fan. So, the new CD. The new CD I don’t think is as good as ‘Transatlanticism’, but it’s still really good. There are some songs on there that are just breathtaking. You were saying you read my blog… From ‘Brother's on a Hotel Bed’, I was like, “that is just one of the most beautifully written songs”. I think that the imagery in that song is so vivid, and if I could have ever written a song, I almost wish it was that one. But also, there is the guy named Mike Doughty who I am a big fan of, who used to be the lead singer of Soul Coughing. He just came out with a solo CD called ‘Haughty Melodic’. It’s really weird that’s it one of my favorite CDs, because it’s very happy. *laughs* If I were to describe the CD, it would be a CD that is about “Yeah, life is messed up, but it’s also really beautiful”. That’s the way life is supposed to be and you find joy in it. There is another quote from this song called ‘Sunken-Eyed Girl’, and it’s all about him digging these girls in life, but it’s a real happy song. There is this line, it’s, “Sunken-eyed girl on Delancey Street, there’s bullet-proof glass at the KFC. So keep the man safe in his paper hat, keep the wrong hands off the biscuit fortune.” It’s this really hilarious thing because he is just talking about a KFC and you’re like, “What a fucking awesome thing”. But it’s poetic too, the way he puts it. You’ve got to listen to the song; it’s my favorite song right now. But yeah, definitely Mike Doughty… The new Eels album is really sad, but really good… The new Beck… Yeah, I’d have to say Beck, Mike Doughty, & Death Cab.

S: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
J: That’s hilarious, I was talking about this today.
S: Really?
J: Yeah! I was talking about this with my good friend Candice. She was saying that she would want to read people’s minds, and I was like, “I wouldn’t. I would never want to, because you would look at your dad and hear him go, ‘Oh look at the rack on that girl’”. That’d freak you out and it would suck. Also, what’s the mystery of dating? There is none. So we came to the conclusion… Or, I came to mine, which was that I wanted to be able to jump as high as I can, or like just jump 15 feet. It’s one of those superpowers that’s not really that outstanding, but it’s really cool. It’s like, “Hey what’s up? *pretends to jump on the building* I just jumped to the top of that roof”. And you are like, “Oh sick, that guy just jumped to the roof!”. You gotta put that whole story in there.
S: I will, I’ll do the motions too.
J: Yeah, Yeah. Put that whole story in there.
S: I think we were talking about that today too. The superpower with our drama teacher about how you would want to just be able to move things.
J: Yeah.
C: I want the potato ability. To be able to turn into a potato when ever you wanted. *silence* Alright!

C: Anyways, if you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 things would you bring with you? You can’t bring anything to get off the island, because that’s cheating.
J: Yeah that is totally cheating. I’d bring a full iPod…
S: What size?
J: Like 100, or whatever is the biggest one.
S: The video…
J: Yeah the video, with like an entire season of 6 Feet Under on it. The other thing I would bring is a poetry anthology, because there’s thousands of poems in it, so you can always feel like you are reading something new, and it’s not the same story, you know? I wouldn’t read the same book. I would bring a poetry anthology. And… I would bring… a bounce house!
S: Totally.
J: Yeah, bounce houses are awesome. I would bring a bounce house.
C: You’d never get bored!

S: What’s your favorite cartoon character?
J: Troy McClure from The Simpsons.

C: Is there anything else you want to say?
J: That’s it. Thank you guys so much.